President Ruto cancels Adani deal with JKIA, KETRACO

President William Ruto has called for the cancellation of the contract between Adani Group and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

Speaking during the State of the Nation Address at Parliament buildings on Thursday November 21, 2024 in the afternoon, President Ruto directed the Ministry of Transport to ensure the Adani deal is canceled.

At the same time, the president directed the Ministry of Energy to cancel the Adani deal with Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO).

”Accordingly, I now direct – in furtherance of the principles enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution on transparency and accountability, and based on new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations – that the procuring agencies within the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process for the JKIA Expansion Public Private Partnership transaction, as well as the recently concluded KETRACO transmission line Public Private Partnership contract, and immediately commence the process of onboarding alternative partners,” said Ruto.

President William Ruto (center), National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula (left) and Senate Speaker Amason Kingi (right) entering parliament for the State of Nation Address at Parliament buildings on November 21, 2024. Photo/TV47 — President William Ruto (center), National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula (left) and Senate Speaker Amason Kingi (right) entering parliament for the State of Nation Address on November 21, 2024. Photo/TV47

President Ruto’s announcement on the Adani deal came just hours after the Indian Group faced indictment in an ongoing case at the United States of America Federal Court.

Gautam Adani, the Adani Group CEO, along with seven other executives in the multibillion-dollar company, were indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in New York for bribing Indian government officials.

The U.S Department of Justice says that Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet S. Jaain, executives of an Indian renewable-energy company (the Indian Energy Company), conspired to commit securities and wire fraud in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from U.S. investors and global financial institutions on the basis of false and misleading statements.

“As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vneet S. Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,” stated U.S Attorney Peace.